Musgrave and Team Puzzled after Lowe’s Finish

Concord, North Carolina (May 19, 2008) – Ted Musgrave is not one to complain about much but he sure had a right to after Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.  The 2005 series champion voiced some frustration after a very disappointing 22nd-place finish in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at the “Beast of the Southeast” for the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra.

“We need to really investigate everything when we get this truck back to the shop,” Musgrave said. “We really got killed off the corners and down the straightaways tonight for some reason.  I was as strong as anyone in the corners but we would come off and go down the straightaways and it was very apparent that I was lacking something.  Not sure what it is but we cannot rule anything out at this point – so we need to check everything that it could possibly be so we don’t have this issue again.”

Musgrave and his Team ASE Toyota started the 134-lap event from the 23rd position and through the early laps of the 200-mile race Musgrave radioed to crew chief Danny Rollins that he was loose through the turns.  An early race caution on lap seven allowed Rollins to call his driver down pit road for a track bar adjustment and fuel.  The race would restart with Musgrave in the 26th position but another quick caution on lap 20 would see the rest of the field come down pit road and Musgrave assume the point and lead his first laps of the 2008 season.

Back under green flag conditions Musgrave quickly fell back through the field and was in the 22nd spot on lap 42 when he radioed to his crew that “he was getting killed on the straightaways”.  A long green flag run would see the entire field forced to make green flag stops and the Team ASE crew pitted on lap 70 for four fresh tires and fuel.  Quickly Musgrave radioed back that “he was tight with this new set of tires”.   The next 30 laps would see the No. 59 truck tight in the center of the corners and the veteran driver trying various lines around the 1.5-mile speedway.

A timely caution on lap 98 would see Musgrave come down pit road for four more fresh tires and fuel.  The last 30 laps of the event would see the No. 59 Team ASE Toyota hang on for valuable track position and survive a green-white-checker finish to come home in the 22nd position.

“This was really disappointing tonight,” Musgrave stated. “But this Team ASE/Harris Trucking crew will go back to the shop and find out what was wrong I am sure of that.  We will all learn from this and come back next week and get after it.”

Musgrave fell to 15th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship standings, 31 points out of the top ten.

Musgrave and his No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra team will look to rebound this Saturday afternoon, May 24, at Mansfield Motorsports Park for the running of the Ohio 250. The green flag will wave on the seventh race of the 2008 season just after 1 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED starting at 12:30 p.m. ET and can also be heard on MRN Radio and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128.